...“Damn you, Devon Masters. Are you really that dense? It’s you I want; it’s always been you. And now that Gavin’s gone, maybe you’ll begin to listen to me.”

Dev gripped the shower’s gold handles and turned off the water. He didn’t dare believe her. “You don’t know me. Not really. You’ll be far better off once you can put all this behind you. I’ve already contacted the attorney about setting things in motion.”

His eyes burned as he turned his head to look at her. Then he stepped toward the door, determined to put distance between them. All this moist, naked skin was destroying any vestige of self-control. And the one noble act he’d probably ever done in his life would be for nothing.

She sidestepped and cut him off. She looked up into his eyes. He was taken aback when he saw the emerald and gold flare brightly in her gaze. The look seared him with its intensity. “Do you think I’ve been a nun all these years, just waiting for you?”

He stilled, not quite sure he heard her right. “What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “What do you think I mean?”

He grabbed her by the arms and shoved her against the wall as primal emotion surged. “You have a lover?” He stared at her, seeing her through different eyes. He blinked, then shook his head and tried to clear the image from his mind of her in bed with another man.

“I’m not seventeen anymore. I’m twenty-seven, and a woman. Will I always remember what Gavin did to me? Yes. But I’ve dealt with it. That’s why you paid for the counseling. Remember? I have needs, Devon. Needs you chose to ignore.”

She stared at him, her gaze never wavering. And suddenly, he saw the woman Haley had become, as though somehow she morphed right before his eyes. All these years he’d kept his image of her as the girl with whom he’d first fallen in love. In his mind, she’d never aged. Until now.

“Who? What’s his name?”

“It’s not what you think. I hired an escort when I needed a man. He was more than willing to do anything I wanted. Unlike you, he was quite eager to touch me. To give me what I needed.”

“Damn you. I don’t want to hear any more.” He released her like he’d been burned, then shoved open the shower door and got out as quickly as possible. He reached to grab a towel from the rack, but Haley’s hand fastened over his, stopping him from retrieving it.

“He was good, Dev. He satisfied me. He let me do what I wanted. He let me touch him any place I wanted. Any way I wanted. And he taught me what I wanted to know.”

“And he fucked you.” The image of her spread beneath a strange man raced through his mind. He pictured the man surge into her; doing with his mouth and cock what Dev yearned to do, and possessing the woman Dev loved more than his own life.

“Yes, I let him fuck me. Or rather, I fucked him. He was very understanding about my experience. He let me tie him to the bed.” Dev looked at her, unable to believe what she was telling him. “You see, I fucked him, Dev, not necessarily the other way around.”

Dev’s whole body trembled as he thought of what it would be like to be at her mercy. Of being fucked by Haley. Totally in her control. He could smell her clean scent and he wanted to taste her. God, but he wanted to taste her, to feel her, to immerse himself in this woman.

“How many times?” Narrowing his gaze, he glared at her. He couldn’t blame her. He couldn’t fault her. Again, he’d let her down by not being the man she needed him to be, when she needed it.

“I don’t remember. I lost track. But he helped me to learn to trust a man again. That’s what I paid him to do. I was one of his regulars. Every Wednesday at three o’clock. And he did his job very, very well.”

“God damn you, Haley. Why are you telling me this? What do you want from me?”

She pushed him against the towel rack, pressing her body against his. “I don’t want an annulment. I want my husband. I want you, Devon. I don’t want a substitute. I want you.”

He stood there for a long time, afraid to move. She rubbed against him and he knew she had won.